Join us as we discuss our October 2025 book club pick, Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker, a Chinese American horror story taking place during the COVID-19 pandemic following Cora Zeng, a crime scene cleaner haunted by the trauma of witnessing her sister’s murder in a NYC subway station, as well as what appears to be her sister’s actual hungry ghost. We follow Cora and her co-workers on a blood-soaked quest as they try to simultaneously figure out how to exorcise her ghost, as well as solve a series of serial murders in NYC, all involving East Asian women.

Books & Boba is a podcast dedicated to reading and featuring books by Asian and Asian American authors

On this episode, we sit down with author Yume Kitasei to chat about her latest novel, Saltcrop, a science fiction story about three sisters who grew up in a near future Earth after an ecological collapse changed the world. When the eldest sister goes missing while working for a megacorporation (because capitalism persists even after the end of the world), the younger two set off on a dangerous trip across the seas to find her.

Follow Yume on Instagram at @yumewrites and check out her newest novel Saltcrop available now on the Books & Boba bookshop!

Books & Boba is a podcast dedicated to reading and featuring books by Asian and Asian American authors

For our mid-month book news check in for October 2025, we’re catching up on the Asian American publishing news for the past 2 months (since we didn’t do a mid-month episode in September) as well as checking in on the news about the latest National Book Award nominations as well as some exciting new listings on the NYT bestsellers list!

Upcoming books mentioned in our publishing news:

• The Radiance by Ayad Akhtar
• The Museum of Modern Love by Mariko Turk
• Sir Silly by Gavin Aung Than
• Emily Min-ji Makes Kimchi by Meredith Seung Mee Buse; illust. Jenn Kocsmiersky
• The River of Caregiving by Jocelyn Chung; illust. Sarah Gonzales
• Of Wind and Dust by Shirin Yim Leos
• Project Juni by Kaitlyn San Miguel
• Medusa’s Pet Rock by Steph Lau
•  Chrysanthemum’s Glow written by Livia Blackburne; illust. Julia Kuo
•  Fishbone Cinderella by Elizabeth Lim
•  The Secret World of Briar Rose by Cindy Pham
•  Born by Sarah Ling
• The Fallen Sun by C.M. Basma
•  Swimming Lessons for a Mermaid by Yongchan
• Who the Flan Am I? by Kiera Wright-Ruiz and Claudia Lam
• The Missing Magic of Sparrow Xia by Leia Ham
• Bear Wakes Up by Lisa Chow
• Frankie Lu’s Summer of No Regrets by Betty Chang
• I Shall Master This Family by Kim Roah, Mon, and ANTStudio

Book news mentioned on this episode:

• 2025 Finalists for the National Book Awards
• Alchemised by SenLinYu debuted at #1 on the New York Time’s Hardcover Fiction list on October 12th

Books & Boba is a podcast dedicated to reading and featuring books by Asian and Asian American authors

On this episode, we are joined by Jade Chang, the author of our August 2025 book club pick The Wangs Vs the World, to chat about her newest novel, What a Time to be Alive, which follows a messy Chinese American girl named Lola Treasure Gold who inadvertently finds internet fame when a tongue in cheek speech she makes at a party honoring her recently deceased best friend goes viral, turning her into an internet self-help influencer.

Follow Jade on Instagram at @hellojadechang and check out her newest novel What a Time to be Alive available now on the Books & Boba bookshop!

Books & Boba is a podcast dedicated to reading and featuring books by Asian and Asian American authors

On this episode, we discuss our September 2025 book club pick, A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna, a cozy magical story about Sera, who used to be the most powerful witch in the UK until losing all her power casting a forbidden spell to bring her beloved great aunt back from the dead. Now 15 years later, she runs a magical inn in the English countryside after being expelled from magical society, and we follow her adventures when a chance to regain her lost power emerges.

Books & Boba is a podcast dedicated to reading and featuring books by Asian and Asian American authors

On this episode, we are joined from all the way on the other side of the world by Emma Pei Yin to chat about her debut novel When Sleeping Women Wake, a historical fiction novel about three women who each find their individual paths to resistance during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong during world war 2. Emma shares with how she was inspired to write the story after hearing about her grandfather’s experiences as a resistance fighter in WW2 as well as how surprisingly difficult it was to find research about life under occupation from the Chinese perspective.

Follow Emma on Instagram at @emmapeiyin and check out her debut novel When Sleeping Women Wake available now on the Books & Boba bookshop!

Books & Boba is a podcast dedicated to reading and featuring books by Asian and Asian American authors